Regional Connectivity

REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a development mega project which aims to connect Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan to China’s northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang, via a network of highways, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas. The economic corridor is considered central to China-Pakistan relations and will run about 3,000 km from Gwadar to Kashgar.

This project will open trade routes for Western China and provide China direct access to the resource-rich Middle East region, bypassing longer logistical routes currently through the Strait Of Malacca.
Once the corridor is constructed, it will expand the number of trade routes between China, The Middle East and Africa. Energy security is a key concern for China, as it is the world’s biggest oil importer, and oil pipelines through Pakistan would cut out ocean travel through Southeast Asia. It links the supply and demand sides of market.
China plans to build oil storage facilities and a refinery at Gwadar Port, with oil transported to its Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region via road and pipeline. This will let it move energy and goods to inland China without going through the Strait Of Malacca.
As of now, 60 percent of China’s imported oil comes from the Middle East, and 80 percent of that is transported to china through this strait.